Sajjan chargesheet : HC tells 1984 victims to call on cops chief

The Delhi high court on Wednesday told 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims to approach the local police commissioner for action against police officials responsible for the 18-year-long 'disappearance' of a chargesheet which named Congress leader Sajjan Kumar as an accused in one of the cases.

"First, file a complaint with the police commissioner. Let him act in accordance with the law. If he does not take action, then come back to the court. We cannot directly order the registration of an FIR against the errant cops and thus expand the scope of the probe," a bench of chief justice D Murugesan and justice VK Jain said.

The FIR regarding the killing of four persons in Nangloi during the riots was registered in 1991. The case is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The HC was responding to a petition filed by the '1984 carnage justice committee', seeking action against police officials responsible for keeping the chargesheet "under wraps".

The committee's lawyer, HS Phoolka, told the HC that the chargesheet remained in the cold storage despite being cleared for filing by a sessions court last year.

The chargesheet had gone "missing" for 18 years after it was illegally clubbed in another case in 1992 (in which Sajjan Kumar didn't figure as an accused). It was after an intervention by the Delhi high court, which appointed special prosecutors in anti-Sikh riot cases, that the chargesheet was traced and promptly brought to the attention of the trial judge.

"This is a big manipulation from the police's side. The reason that this FIR was not pursued by the police is because Sajjan Kumar is an accused. When the police could not remove his name from the chargesheet (FIR 67/87), they decided to bury it," Phoolka alleged before the court.